Awesome August

 

 

 

In essence August opened with the merest trickle of birds, increased in pace as the month proceeded and finally departed the 2013 calendar with an exciting flurry.  It was the obverse of Allen Road which suffered from the fact that Fay and I ventured further afield around the South Burnett, indeed even further, Beyond the Pale on occasions; the more we wandered, the less time we had to concentrate on Allen Road.

During the month we covered 20 of the 80 identified sites in the immediate region, including new additions David Road [Taromeo] and the Mudlo National Park [Kilkivan].  The former is the home of our good friends [and part-time birders] Richard & Bess Newman.  Hopefully if I can eventually present them with a reasonably comprehensive “backyard” birdlist [they made a start back in the early days] it will encourage them to pay birding more attention.  The latter remains something of an enigma.  We had noticed it on the maps and had always suggested to ourselves that one day we should venture out to explore its birding potential.  We never did and it took a Birds Queensland weekend outing [we joined them for the Saturday] to get us there.  A second trip is now firmly on the calendar.

We ended the month with 127 species, the best tally since records started back in 2001, clearly outstripping the second best total of 109 species in 2012 [the only two years in which August has topped the 100-species mark]. Of those, 49% [59 species] were passerines; parrots and allies managed 9% [12 species] marginally ahead of the pelicans and allies, also 9% but with only 11 species.

 

One species of particular note to us during the opening week of August was perhaps the White-necked Heron Ardea pacifica.  While by no means a rare species for the area, it is less frequent and less abundant than the White-faced Heron Egretta novaehollandiae; 94 recorded sightings compared to 370 for the latter.  Thus, it is always a little exciting to see a White-necked Heron.

The second week began looking good with our trip to the Tarong Power Station complex [10 August]: the White-throated Treecreeper Cormobates leucophaea, Weebill Smicrornis brevirostris and Rufous Whistler Pachycephala rufiventris put in their only appearance in the area but were all hugely over-shadowed by the Grey Goshawk Accipiter novaehollandiae, last seen in more or less exactly the same spot three months earlier [May 2013].

The following day, on a return to the Power Station, the two finches, Double-barred Taeniopygia bichenovii and Red-browed Neochmia temporalis showed well along one of the tracks around Meandu Creek Dam.

The third week exploded with a flurry of birds, hoisting August from the tally doldrums to become a serious contender for the Best Bird Month of the Year Award.  It squeezed into third place, behind July at 129 and January on 134.  We’d decided to join Birds Queensland on 24 August on their Kilkivan outing.

 

 

The Azure Kingfisher Ceyx azureus, only our second sighting of the species since December 1996 [and both in the South Burnett], made the long trip out to Kilkivan worthwhile in itself.  I noted it flying across the road to perch on a strand of wire running across the small creek at the caravan park entrance.  Fay, in the front passenger seat, had initially missed it so I slowly reversed until she too could get a good look at its blazing colours.  It was all pleasingly reminiscent of that beautiful Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis flitting about on rocks by the beach at Marazion, Cornwall, back in January 1994. 

Mudlo National Park provided us with crippling views of a Buff-banded Rail Gallirallus philippensis, cautiously foraging alongside the gravel road; a pair of Glossy Black-Cockatoos Calyptorhynchus lathami only metres above our heads and seemingly within easy reach of an outstretched hand; confirmation that Rainbow Bee-eaters Merops ornatus were back in town; the first Little Shrike-thrush Colluricincla megarhyncha sighting since December 2009; our first Spectacled Monarch Colluricincla megarhyncha since September 2012 and our first record of Leaden Flycatcher Myiagra rubecula since January this year.  As a touching finale, the Australasian Pipit Anthus australis put in its only South Burnett sighting for the month.

And all that before 31 August when we ventured forth to the Gordonbrook Dam for our eighth visit here [the previous one earlier in January 2013].    In keeping with the literary theme  of “awesome” we came away with our best ever tally, beating the former best [43 in October 2010]  with 55 – including the superlative, the crème de la crème, six Freckled Ducks  Stictonetta naevosa a mere stone’s throw from the shoreline.

The first Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus since January 2013 put in an appearance, floating down to join the above-mentioned Freckled Ducks.  The pair of Royal Spoonbills Platalea regia was our first South Burnett sighting of this species since the solitary bird at the Sewage Plant back in April 2013. The four Yellow-billed Spoonbills Platalea flavipes complemented the pair noted at the Sewage Plant a week earlier.  The two White-breasted Woodswallows Artamus leucorynchus added to the growing Trip List, as did the unexpected but welcomed Caspian Tern Hydroprogne caspia.

Aye, an absolutely awesome August.

From the same view point a few hours later

 

 

 

 

Limited Jaunts in July

 

In a quite gob-smacking way, July 2013 turned out to be the most productive July on record.  The monthly tally of 119 species easily outstripped the previous best, 82 species in 2010 and almost quadrupled the lowest ever score of 31 species in July 2007.  Surprising because it didn’t seem to be a particularly active period with only seven [7] South Burnett destinations recorded: Nanango Fauna Sanctuary [6, 14 and 28 July], the Sewage Plant [6 July], Bunya Mts [7 July], Berlin Road [21, 27 and 28 July], both the Hoop Pine plantation and open woodland areas within the Tarong Power Station complex [14 July], Mt Wooroolin [26 July] and Neumgna Road [28 July].

Clearly, species diversity was the key.  Not that any of the seven produced particularly outstanding individual tallies:

Fauna Sanctuary	30
Sewage Plant	21
Bunya Mts	25
Berlin Road	18
Tarong [Hoop]	16
Tarong [open wood]	14
Mt Wooroolin	23
Neumgna Road	7

Nevertheless there were a few gems during July that set off a pleasing pattern.  The White-headed Pigeons Columba leocomela [7 July] posed in their usual spot, just north of the composite bridge over the gully in Blackbutt. They were adequately complemented by the Green Catbird Ailuroedus crassirostris, Crimson Rosella Platycercus elegans, Topknot Pigeons Lopholaimus antarctieus and Red-rumped Parrots Psephotus haematonutus on the way to and at the Bunya Mts [7 July].

A week later [14 July] we had good views of a male Muck Duck Biziura lobata and seven Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus on the Cooling Water Dam at the Tarong Power Station complex.  They were overshadowed by close views of a Little Eagle Hieraaetus morphnoides at the Meandu Creek Dam [Tarong Power Station].  The species presented itself again a week later.

20 July brought crippling views of a Spotted Harrier Cicus assimilis while later, en route to the Jimbour “Opera in the Park”, we were inundated by a large flock of Cockatiels Leptolophus hollandicus.

The Brown Quail Coturnix australis along Berlin Road [21 July] was eclipsed only by the later sighting [a little further along Berlin Road] of a Brown Falcon Falco berigora [identified by both sight and call].

 The month concluded with the first Rainbow Bee-eater Merops ornatus of the season [28 July], albeit seemingly a little early given the cold conditions.  The Scarlet Honeyeater Myzomela sanguinolenta[30 July] was our first since early April 2013.

                                                                 Section of Cooling Water Dam

 

Can August [109 in 2012] top that?  Stay tuned.

 

JUST JUNE

One comes to learn not to expect too much from birding in June.  It’s end of semester time; report cards, parent-teacher interviews and the collation of data for the Education Authorities.  

Following the 2011 Census, Fay and I were randomly selected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics to be tracked on a monthly basis for the next eight months.  When informed that I was paid for a 25-hour week [six hours over five days] the statistician giggled, pointing out that this was the number of working hours the Bureau allocated to the “barely employed.”  Her giggle turned to a gasp as each month I rattled off  the weekly hours I’d actually spent in school or engaged on school work.   During June those hours increased by a significant margin.

As an old wag once quipped, “Teachers!  Buggers only work from nine to three, get ten weeks paid holiday a year and do little more than hand out worksheets and yell at the kids.  And most of the males are rampant paedophiles to boot!”  Visions of Pink Floyd’s Brick in the Wall.

Make what you will of the above tirade,

We managed our first birding, beyond noting the local Allen Road birds and those recorded at school, on 9 June – and that was merely casual observations from the car as we returned home following a night out at the BOLSHOI BALLET and dinner with our son, ADAM.

On 10 June we finalised the first of two new birding circuits for the month, to add to the three designed in May:

Exit Burnett Highway at Booie Road.  Follow until Booie Road makes a sharp right-hand turn while the road directly ahead becomes Smith Road.  Follow this to its T-junction with the Hodsleigh North Road.  Turn left into this and follow until it meets the D'Aguilar Highway,

Strictly speaking of course this is not a complete circuit as we usually exit at Parsons Road and return home via the Nanango-Brooklands Road [into Major and Allen Roads] rather than continue through to Nanango itself and the start of the Burnett Highway.

We created the second of our new birding circuits five days later [15 June]; well more a “Q” than a true circuit:

Drive along the Mount Stanley Road and turn left into the East Nanango-Grindstone Road.  Follow this until its T-junction with the Grindstone School Road [signposted simple as School Road].  Follow this until its T-junction with Runnymede Road and then the latter's T-junction with the Burnett Highway.  Follow this until a left turn into Lanigan Road which junctions with the East Nanango-Grindstone Road [the tail of the Q].

The engaging views of three [3] Shining Bronze-Cuckoos Chalcites lucidus seemingly displaying to each other was a bonus in itself but of the 21 species recorded on this outing, the Brown Goshawk Accipiter fasciatus has to be the sighting of the day.  As we negotiated a slight bend the bird suddenly materialised on the right-hand edge of the road [the tail of the circuit], flew along ahead of us and perched in tree a few metres away before disappearing again.  All too fast for my slow camera work!

Other than those two occasions we managed only a brief sojourn to the Nanango Fauna Sanctuary and an even briefer trip along Neumgna Road on a very overcast, grey day.

 

Our final entry was during the return trip from Chinchilla when we tallied twelve [12] species between the Western Downs and South Burnett border back to Allen Road.  The Black-shouldered Kite Elanus axillaris was worth a mention in despatches.

It was just June!

 

 

Circuits and Black Kites

 

At one point I was tempted to call this blog “The Month of the Raptor.”  It was certainly an amazing month for raptors.  Not only was there the Black Kite Milvus migrans of the title but we spotted eight other diurnal birds of prey during May, some of them real gems in anyone’s reckoning. 

The Whistling Kite Haliastur sphenurus has become almost a commonplace bird, putting in eight appearances on its own.  The impressive Wedge-tailed Eagle Aquila audax managed four showings over May, as did the Black-shouldered Kite Elanus axillaris.  We spotted the Nankeen Kestrel Falco cenchroides on two separate occasions during the month.

The first of the gems was surely the Grey Goshawk Accipiter novaehollandiae on 11 May.  Our first sighting of the bird that morning was in the “open woodland” area of Tarong Power Station; our second of the bird [most certainly the same goshawk] was over Tarong State Forest, as we left the Power Station.  Fay and I have long suspected nesting in the area; we observed a pair back in November 2011.

A week later, 18 May, while further exploring the birding potential of Darley Crossing Road, we were blessed with glorious views of a Spotted Harrier Circus assimilis.  It even outshone the earlier sighting [5 May] of a Swamp Harrier Circus approximans at the Black Creek Dam.

 

However, the raptor of the month has to be the Australian Hobby Falco longipennis, seen shortly after the Swamp Harrier and a little beyond the dam, atop a tall tree in open woodland.  Initially seen from quite a distance away, we at first thought we might have a Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus but as we drew to within easier telescope views it became patently clear that it was a hobby.  Its presence delayed our morning’s birdwatching by at least ten minutes.  Or at least it felt that long before we forced ourselves away to continue our survey of the area. 

On our return, the hobby was still there, perched in the same tree, affording us the same lingering views.  It was going to be a late breakfast that morning!

The sudden irruption of Black Kite into the area came as a very pleasant surprise.

According to a number of local residents, these “fish-tailed hawks” had, many years ago, been quite a prominent feature of the South Burnett landscape but had gradually declined in number to the point when they were no longer noticed and eventually faded from conscious recall.  Certainly by the time Fay and I became regular visitors to [circa 2001] and then domicile in the area [circa 2005] there were no reports from any quarter of Black Kite.

I came across the first specimen back in August 2011 while returning home from school [Blackbutt].  My brief notes of the time – it is always difficult if not downright dangerous to be overly profuse in one’s scribblings while at the wheel of a car- recorded “On Nanango side of Nukku turn-off.  Being ‘escorted’ by pair of Torresian Crows”.  It was exactly a year later, August 2012, when Fay and I noted the second record in this neck of the woods, at the Cooling Water Dam in the Tarong Power Station complex.  Our notes on that occasion record, “New to PATCH LIST.  Observed being harassed by Whistling Kites [c.f.]”.

The first warning droplets of the impending deluge of Black Kites occurred on 24 Match 2013.  I was on my way into Nanango to buy something or other when I spotted the distinctive forked tail circling the area ahead.  A week later, at Horse Creek [on our way to Wooroolin], we spotted the fourth of our South Burnett kites.  There were another two sightings in April 2013, both in the Horse Creek/Barkers Creek Flats area.  On 20 April we recorded “Stopped to have a good look as the bird flew off towards Nanango.  Forked tail quite clear”.   A week later, 28 April, we spotted the next scout for the impending horde about to descend on the area.  We recorded “Circling overhead.  Further evidence that the species is entering the area.  Initially noted one just outside Nanango; Fay and I observed one near Horse Creek on 20 April 2013”.

It became comparative Black Kite pandemonium throughout May and no doubt, had we been in a position to venture forth more often [school report cards can be a birding bother], we would have recorded Black Kite on more occasions and possibly in greater numbers.  On 6 May, “Near BP Service Station outside Nanango” for the first time we encountered more than the previous solitary bird; three.
 

On 11 May, at the local Refuse Exchange Station – the “tip” in old parlance- we recorded 20 as a “Conservative estimate of numbers involved.  Apparently making a come-back into the area after a long absence”.  A week later, 18 May, at the same place, we noted 100 as a “Conservative estimate of numbers involved.”
 

The trend towards higher numbers continues into June.
 

The prodigal kite saga becomes a little more interesting if one considers that our records centre on Nanango and its immediate environs alone.  There are other Refuse Exchange Stations in the South Burnett region – as there are many farmers currently involved in ploughing land, no doubt being escorted by hordes of opportunistic Black Kites.
 

May was also the month in which Fay and I created a number of new birding circuits, a la our original Rocky Creek Circuit. 
 

On 5 May we extended the former Mondure Crossing Road transect to form the Mondure Creek Circuit.  It had been our practice to bird along this stretch of gravel road from its junction with the Burnett Highway [A3] to its further junction with Booie Road and then simply turn back.  On occasions we did turn left here, exploring a little way down before returning home.  This time we took the right-hand turn and followed Booie Road until its junction with the Robin & Lee Road and thus back to the Burnett Highway.

The new Mondure Creek Circuit proved an instant success.  Among the 28 species recorded that day, the jewel in the crown was undoubtedly the Azure Kingfisher Ceyx azureus.  Not only was this our first sighting of the species in the South Burnett region, it was our first sighting of the species since 8 December 1996 at Peachtrees!
 

A week later, 12 May, we incorporated the Mondure Crossing Road into a second circuit. From off the Burnett Highway we followed Booie Road which eventually sweeps around to the right in almost a right-angled turn until its junction with Mondure Crossing Road and thus back to the Burnett Highway.  While not as immediately successful as the earlier circuit, it clearly has the potential to impress and we will try it again.
 

Attempts to form a circuit based on Runnymede Road fizzled away when we hit a “No Through Road” sign to the left and knew that the fork to the right was the infamous pass over Mt Stanley.  Nevertheless, later, sharing a glass of Shiraz on the east verandah, poring over local road maps, we found a possible circuit using Walsh Road which runs off Runnymede Road.
 

Smith Road holds further circuit potential.  We still hold out hopes for the Darley Crossing Road project and of course, a little further afield, we have come across a possible Nukku Road circuit; it looks good on “google maps” buts awaits the opportunity to test it on the ground.
 

How long is it before I retire?

 

 

 

April Stats

A cursory glance of the simple, raw statistics for birding the South Burnett in April 2013 would appear to suggest rather meagre pickings; a grim time, as per Allen Road in the same month.  We visited sixteen different locations to record 83 separate entries [5.18 entries per location] on Bird Journal.  Certainly, at 115 species, April has the lowest monthly tally for 2013 to date:

January 2013                          116 species

February 2013                        121 species
March 2013                            116 species

On the other hand, it has been the highest April tally since South Burnett records started seriously and consistently back in 2009:

April 2013                   115
April 2012                   112

April 2011                     70

April 2010                     80

April 2009                     94     

Prior to this [2006, the year we moved into the region permanently, to 2008] South Burnett records consisted only of Allen Road sightings with a preliminary survey of Blackbutt State School avifauna [2007]:

April 2008                     45

April 2007                     50

April 2006                     31     

It was also one of the better Aprils in terms of locations covered during that particular month, second only to 2012 when we notched up 21 different sites:

April 2013                   16 [average 7.18 species per location]

April 2012                   21 [average 3.33 species per location]

April 2011                   11 [average 6.36 species per location]

April 2010                   10 [average 8.0 species per location]                                                                         

April 2009                   12 [average 7.83 species per location]

Birding got off to a fine start as early as 1^st April with Musk Duck Biziura lobata, Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus australis, Australasian Darter Anhinga novaehollandiae novaehollandiae and Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo novaehollandiae, all during our regular monitoring surveys at the nearby Tarong Power Station.  Later that day we added Plumed Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna eytoni, Intermediate Egret Egretta intermedia plumifera

 

and Royal Spoonbill Platalea regia at the Grey Street Sewage Treatment Plant.   There were other species that day but these were never seen again during April.

The raptors were reasonably well represented during April.  Both the Pacific Baza Aviceda subcristata subcristata and Collared Sparrowhawk Accipiter cirrocephalus cirrocephalus have previously featured in the last Allen Road blog.

The Black-shouldered Kite Elanus axillaris put in four appearances: en route to Toowoomba on the 11^th [during the same journey which brought us the month’s second Wedge-tailed Eagle Aquila audax audax]; on the 21^st and 27^th along Berlin Road and once [27^th] along Neumgna Road.  As the latter runs off Berlin Road it is quite likely to have been identical to the Berlin Road bird. 

The Whistling Kite Haliastur sphenurus was recorded on three occasions: on 1^st April at Tarong Power Station, the 14^th along Berlin Road and at Allen Road on the 25^th.

Only Fay observed the Nankeen Kestrel Falco cenchroides cenchroides at Kingaroy on 4^th April but we were together when the raptor of the month flew across the Forester’s windscreen, lingering long enough to enable incontrovertible identification.   We were returning home, along Berlin Road, when the Spotted Harrier Circus assimilis suddenly appeared from our left, turned to fly ahead of us for a moment before veering right to continue on its way across and beyond Berlin Road.

The usual array of honeyeaters – with a handful of additional bonuses- appeared during the month.  The Eastern Spinebill Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris tenuirostris put in its sole April performance on the 7^th in the general East Nanango area.  Its compatriots, the Scarlet Honeyeater Myzomela sanguinolenta and the Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater Acanthagenys rufogularis put in one showing each on the 7^th [in East Nanango] and 28^th [Allen Road] respectively.  The Brown Honeyeater Lichmera indistincta ocularis was another local gem noted in East Nanango on the 7^th.

The others are all South Burnett regulars: Lewin’s Honeyeater Meliphaga lewinii lewinii; Yellow-faced Honeyeater Lichenostomus chrysops chrysops; Noisy Miner Manorina melanocephala lepidota; Blue-faced Honeyeater Entomyzon cyanotis cyanotis;  Noisy Friarbird Philemon corniculatus monachus; Little Friarbird Philemon citreogularis citreogularis and Striped Honeyeater Plectorhyncha lanceolata.

 

A small host of species put in a solitary appearance during the entire month: both the Eastern Yellow Robin Eopsaltria australis australis and [Common] Cicadabird Coracina tenuirostris tenuirostris showed well at Tarong Power Station on the 1^st; the Golden-headed Cisticola Cisticola exilis exilis along Berlin Road on the 4^th; the Australian Raven Corvus coronoides coronoides was in the East Nanango area on the 7^th;; the elusive Black-faced Monarch Monarcha melanopsis at Blackbutt State School on the 10^th and the Tawny Grassbird Megalurus timoriensis alisteri along the Rocky Creek Circuit on the 21^st.

Overall, an enjoyable month of birding but the sands of time are already running out; even this early end of semester report cards begin to look ominously over the horizon.